Sunday, 26 October 2014

A curious case of … Deflection and prejudice

Who would
have thought the day would come when a minister in an ANC-led government would
read from the opposition DA hymn book of the pathologies of black culture – and
an old, seemingly discarded edition at that?

Well, that’s
exactly what happened when Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu this week
promised that no person younger than 40 would receive a free house during her
time in charge of human settlements.

This isn’t
the first time she has said this.

In July,
shortly after her first budget speech since her return to the human settlements
portfolio, Sisulu channelled DA leader Helen Zille.

In an
interview that echoed the content of her speech that day, Sisulu said: “What
makes an 18-year-old think the state owes them a house? It’s a culture of
entitlement … We can’t continue with a dependency culture.”

Given that
99.7% of households living in informal dwellings – and thus in need of decent
housing – are black, Sisulu is referring, even if indirectly, to a mentality
she believes is prevalent among poor black people.

This
often-repeated belief, for which no evidence exists, is a noxious mix of class
and racial prejudice. It can be traced back to the colonial stereotype of the
“lazy ka**ir”.

According to
this stereotype, poor blacks will, left to their own devices, laze about in
indolence and take advantage of the largesse of the colonial master whenever
possible.

In defending
her belief this time around, Sisulu dug up and read from the lost pages of the
DA hymn book.

She denied
that colonialism and apartheid have had intergenerational economic and social
effects that are evident in young black people’s lack of decent housing.

She said if
they were younger than 40, blacks lost nothing to colonialism and apartheid.

Only a
person gilded in the comforts of a R2.1 million government salary and benefits
contained in the Ministerial Handbook, including free government housing, could
believe that.

In her mind,
poor blacks under 40 act like they are entitled to free things from government.
And government, by acceding to this purported entitlement, has created a
“dependency culture” among them.

Poor people
are desperate for a roof over their heads and will sometimes build makeshift
dwellings on land that doesn’t belong to them. At some point they will be
evicted, as happened in Lwandle, Cape Town, in June. Picture: Lulama Zenzile

Poor people
are desperate for a roof over their heads and will sometimes build makeshift
dwellings on land that doesn’t belong to them. At some point they will be
evicted, as happened in Lwandle, Cape Town, in June. Picture: Lulama Zenzile

This
fallacious admix of denialism and unsubstantiated claims has been used to
attack just about every aspect of spending on social programmes, from social
grants and the provision of antiretroviral medication to plans for a national
health insurance scheme.

Typically,
such attacks have come from opposition parties like the DA.

But cutting
back on spending on the free housing programme has nonetheless been in
government’s sights since 2010, when former human settlements minister Tokyo
Sexwale said continuing the programme indefinitely might “create a beggars’
culture where people just expect to be given free houses from the state”.

Again, it is
easy to espouse such unfounded beliefs when, if you are Sexwale, are assured
the privilege of a R70 million mansion in Sandhurst with a plush bed to rest on
at the end of each day.

It is easy
to ignore that an important component of government’s housing programme is
fulfilling the state’s constitutional obligation to assist those who cannot
afford housing, regardless of age, gender or race.

So not only
is the stereotype about poor black people unsubstantiated and rooted in
prejudice, Sisulu’s proposed response may be unconstitutional.

It
discriminates unfairly on the basis of age against under-40s who cannot afford
housing. And it reneges on the state’s constitutional obligation to progressively
realise the right of all to housing.

This
obligation has neither age stipulations nor sunset clauses. But it is subject
to the constraints of available resources, which is where Sisulu should direct
the conversation if she is interested in a debate about the sustainability of
government’s housing programme.

However,
directing the conversation there will undoubtedly lead to questions about
whether other items in government spending are defensible.

For example,
the public works department alone lost R34 billion over the past 13 years to
irregular spending.

The SABC
incurred irregular expenditure of R3.3 billion in the 2013/14 financial year, a
mere R100 million more than the irregular expenditure recorded in the previous
financial year.

Almost R25 billion
was incurred in unauthorised, irregular and fruitless expenditure in 2012/13
across all national departments and public entities. ”That’s almost how much is
allocated to housing delivery this year.”

We can also
delve deeper by questioning whether government’s other spending priorities,
such as spending on military equipment or the soccer World Cup, rank higher
than the constitutional imperative to assist those who cannot afford housing.

These
conversations are more difficult, which is probably why it is easier for Sisulu
to caricature poor black people.

Frantz Fanon

1925 - 1961

This Blog

This blog contains resources directly related to Frantz Fanon's life and work, the secondary literature on Fanon and other resources useful for engaging Fanon's ideas here and now. Some of what is here comes from, or relates to, a particular set of ongoing discussions around Fanon's work in Grahamstown.